so yeh i put 13000 miles on the mx5 since i got it. calculated it today. im used to the way it handles and how it reacts and what not. but on a 55mph zone i run 65.. in the bird it was a challenge and it made it fun.. you had to pay attention to a car goin at its max. you know steering with the throttle and what not. but i've been driving the mx5 now and it may only have 100ishhp i can actually pull on v8 trucks. thats nothing really but its something. ive also did a flying pass of a newer mustang (not newest) and it was a GT. of course i was in corners. i can just point and click the gas. the only traction i lost was the rear wheels at 70 in a 45mph turn. but i cruise at 60-65. all the challenging corners for the bird are effortless. i like the tightness in the steering unlike the bird.
DONT SELL YOUR BIRD OR COUG!!!
i take it you have a first gen miata?
why its more fun is because it is a sports car by design not just a car made up to be sporty. many years ago i wanted to get a miata and tried to buy one untill i actually sat in and drove it. if i remember it was a 94 with the 1.8. the car handled nice and felt well put together, the shifter was nice but too short for me being so used to driving other slopier things but my head was completely above the windshield frame and it wouldve been impossible to live with its top up, for me i mean. an accident wouldve left me decapitated and im not exactly that tall either.
I have more fun in my 99 than i ever did in my 87 but that's because i have actually done some performance mods and the such to the 99 where as i never did anything to the 87. Had to push it off the makeshift pad yesterday so we could re level the pad sat in it tried to start it and it wouldn't. When i sat in it god i wanted to drive her again.
My front wheeler capri is like that. A lot more 'refined' feeling and smoother acceleration, tighter more responsive steering, etc.
But the bird is just so much more comfortable, faster, and has that 'my first car' value, so Im gonna yank the turbo motor out of the capri and drop it in my festiva.
I've been really starting to like the birds more then the cougars. I have had a couple of cougars, and two birds. First one had a bad engine and tranny.
This one, the trunk opens wider but there is less head room. Don't know how I feel about that. Alot of people reconize the birds, but none on the cougar. I don't get people.
I would drive this car all day every day over almost any puppiesan made car I've ever sat in.
I'll take the 17mpg city and 24mpg highway over one of those econoboxes any day of the week.